Philip Anschutz | |
|---|---|
| Born | Philip Frederick Anschutz (1939-12-28)December 28, 1939 (age 85) Russell, Kansas, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Kansas |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Organization | The Anschutz Corporation |
| Spouse | Nancy Anschutz |
| Children | 3 |
Philip Frederick Anschutz (/ˈænʃuːts/AN-shoots; born December 28, 1939) is an Americanbillionaire businessman who owns or controls companies in a variety of industries, including energy, railroads, real estate, sports, newspapers, travel, movies, theaters, arenas and music. In 2004, he purchased the parent company of the Journal Newspapers, which under Anschutz's direction became theAmerican conservative editorial newspaperWashington Examiner. Anschutz is the son ofFred and Marian Pfister Anschutz.
In 1961, he bought out his father's oil drilling company, Circle A Drilling, and earned large returns in Wyoming. He invested in stocks, real estate and railroads. He expanded his investments to sports and entertainment companies, co-founding the American soccer leagueMajor League Soccer as well as multiple soccer teams, including theLos Angeles Galaxy,Chicago Fire,Colorado Rapids,Houston Dynamo,San Jose Earthquakes, and theNew York/New Jersey MetroStars. Anschutz is the principal owner of theNational Hockey League'sLos Angeles Kings and was a minority owner of theNational Basketball Association'sLos Angeles Lakers until selling his interest in 2021. He also owns stakes in performance venues, includingCrypto.com Arena,The O2 Arena, and theDignity Health Sports Park. Through his ownership ofWalden Media, he has invested in films such asThe Chronicles of Narnia,Ray, andJoshua. ThroughAEG Live, he owns theCoachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Sea Island Resorts andThe Broadmoor hotel in Colorado. He is also the namesake ofCU Anschutz, the medical campus of theUniversity of Colorado.
As of May 2025,Forbes ranks him the 130th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $16.9 billion.[1]
Anschutz was born December 28, 1939, inRussell, Kansas, the son of Marian (née Pfister; 1910–1986) and Frederick Benjamin Anschutz (1909–1993).[2][3][4][5] His father was an oil tycoon and land speculator who invested in ranches in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and eventually went into the oil-drilling business. His grandfather, Carl Anschutz,[6] was an ethnicGerman who emigrated from Russia and started the Farmers State Bank in Russell. Anschutz grew up in Russell, as didBob Dole.[7] He also lived inWichita, andHays, Kansas. In later years, Anschutz contributed to Dole's political campaigns.
Anschutz graduated fromWichita East High School in 1957. In 1961, he earned abachelor's degree in business from theUniversity of Kansas, where he was a member of theSigma Chi fraternity.[8]
In 1970, Anschutz bought the 250,000-acre (1,000 km2) Baughman Farms, one of the country's largest farming corporations, inLiberal, Kansas, for $10 million. The following year, he acquired 9 million acres (36,000 km2) along the Utah-Wyoming border. This produced his first fortune in the oil business.[9] In the early 1980s, the Anschutz Ranch, with its billion-barrel (160,000,000 m3) oil pocket, became the largest oil field discovery in the United States sincePrudhoe Bay in Alaska in 1968. In 1982, Anschutz sold an interest in it toMobil for $500 million.
For several years, Anschutz was Colorado's sole billionaire. With his acquisition of land in other Western states, he became one of the 100 largest landholders in the United States.[10][11]
Anschutz then moved into railroads and telecommunications before venturing into the entertainment industry. In 1999,Fortune magazine compared him to the 19th-century tycoonJ.P. Morgan, as both men "struck it rich in a fundamentally different way: they operated across an astounding array of industries, mastering and reshaping entire economic landscapes."
In 1984, Anschutz entered the railroad business by purchasing theRio Grande Railroad'sholding company,Rio Grande Industries. In 1988, the Rio Grande railroad purchasedSouthern Pacific under his direction. With the merger of the Southern Pacific andUnion Pacific Corporation in September 1996, Anschutz became vice-chairman of Union Pacific. Before the merger, he was a director of Southern Pacific from June 1988 to September 1996, and non-executive chairman of Southern Pacific from 1993 to September 1996. He was also a director of Forest Oil Corporation beginning in 1995. In November 1993, he became director and chairman of the board ofQwest, stepping down as a non-executive co-chairman in 2002 but remaining on the board.[12][13][14] He has also been a director for Pacific Energy Partners and served on the boards of theAmerican Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C., and theNational Petroleum Council in Washington, D.C.
In May 2001, theBush administration upheld Anschutz's right to drill an exploratory oil well at Weatherman Draw in south-central Montana, where Native American tribes wanted to preserve sacredrock drawings. Environmental groups, preservationists, and ten Native American tribes appealed the decision without success. In April 2002, theAnschutz Exploration Corporation gave up its plans to drill for oil in the area. They donated its leases for oil and gas rights to theNational Trust for Historic Preservation, which has pledged to let the leases expire, and theBureau of Land Management said it had no plans to permit further leases there and would consider formal withdrawal of the 4,268-acre (17 km2) site from mineral leasing in its 2004 management plan. In recognition of its preservation efforts, The National Trust for Historic Preservation presented its President's Award to the Anschutz Exploration Corporation.[15]
In May 2003, New YorkAttorney GeneralEliot Spitzer reached a settlement with Anschutz after filing a civil complaint accusing Anschutz of acceptingIPO shares fromSalomon Smith Barney in exchange for Qwest's investment banking business. Anschutz denied any wrongdoing but volunteered to donate a total of $4.4 million to settle the case as long as he selected the recipient organizations in advance.[16] Anschutz paid $100,000 to each of 32 New York nonprofit philanthropic groups, as well as $200,000 to each of six law schools. In return, Spitzer dropped his civil suit.[17] The payment was roughly equal to his profit from the practice of IPO "spinning"; thus, he actually suffered no penalty. Spitzer's suit was panned in aWall Street Journal editorial headlined "The Anschutz Ransom".[18] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice extensively investigated Qwest officials and determined there was no justification for taking action against any board member. TheDenver Post summarized the implications for Anschutz: "Not only is Qwest founder and board member Philip Anschutz not a defendant in the long-awaited civil case against the regime of former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio, he doesn't even merit a mention in the 50-page complaint."[19]
In February 2006, the DenverRocky Mountain News reported that Anschutz would not run for reelection to the boards of Qwest and Union Pacific and would resign from the board ofRegal Entertainment Group so as to focus on his other investments.[20]
On June 24, 2008, it was announced that Anschutz would buyXanterra Parks and Resorts, which had purchased theGrand Canyon Railway in 2007.[21] In 2011, it was announced that Anschutz had purchased the Oklahoma Publishing Company, and as part of their assetsThe Broadmoor and theManitou and Pike's Peak Railway inColorado Springs andManitou Springs respectively.[22]
Effective August 1, 2010, Xanterra Parks and Resorts purchased and assumed management ofKingsmill Resort. Xanterra purchased the resort from Busch Properties, Inc. (BPI).
TheAnschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams, sports events, and sports venues. It is also the owner of entertainment venues and under AEG Live the world's second-largest presenter of live music and entertainment events after Live Nation. Through AEG Live, it owns theCoachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.[23]
On September 18, 2012, Anschutz announced he was putting AEG up for sale, but he decided not to accept[24] any of the bids, and on March 14, 2013, took AEG off the market.[25]
In 2012,SportsBusiness Journal named Anschutz the fifth most influential person in sports business in its annual survey of the "50 Most Influential People in Sports Business."[26]
Anschutz is one of only four recipients of the National Soccer Hall of Fame'sMedal of Honor for his contributions to growing the sport ofsoccer in the United States.[27] In 2006SportsBusiness Journal ranked Anschutz the most influential person in soccer in the U.S.[28] Anschutz was one of the founders ofMajor League Soccer and owned several teams for periods of time, including theLos Angeles Galaxy,Chicago Fire,Colorado Rapids,Houston Dynamo,San Jose Earthquakes,D.C. United, and theNew York/New Jersey MetroStars.[29] He owns a stake in theDignity Health Sports Park, the stadium for the MLS team LA Galaxy and former MLS teamChivas USA. For some time, while MLS was struggling, Anschutz owned six MLS franchises concurrently and experienced significant financial losses. For this reason, Anschutz has been called the man who saved MLS.[30][31] MLS Commissioner Don Garber stated in 2006 that "without Phil Anschutz, there's no MLS today".[27]
| MLS Teams Owned | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Years | MLS Cups | Fate |
| Colorado Rapids | 1996–2003 | 1 loss (1997) | sold toKroenke Sports & Entertainment |
| LA Galaxy | 1996–present | 6 wins (2002,2005, *2011, *2012,2014,2024), 4 losses (1996,1999,2001,2009) | still owned by Anschutz |
| Chicago Fire | 1998–2007 | 1 win (1998), 2 losses (2000, *2003) | sold toAndell Holdings |
| D.C. United | 2001–2007 | 1 win (2004) | sold toD.C. United Holdings |
| New York/New Jersey MetroStars | 2001–2006 | none | sold toRed Bull GmbH |
| San Jose Earthquakes/Houston Dynamo | 2002–2015 | 3 wins (*2003,2006,2007), 2 losses (*2011, *2012) | team relocated after 2005 season, eventually sold to Brener International Group |
| *indicates years when two Anschutz-owned teams met in the MLS Cup | |||
Anschutz was instrumental in several MLS initiatives that have grown the league's revenues and profits. For example, he pushed for the building of soccer-specific stadiums, allowing MLS teams to increase revenue and better control costs.[27] Anschutz also advocated for MLS's creation ofSoccer United Marketing, the league's sales and marketing arm.[27] He has since sold his stake in the Chicago, Denver, Houston, New York, San Jose and D.C. MLS teams and now owns only the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Anschutz is the principal owner of theLos Angeles Kings. He was a minority owner of theLos Angeles Lakers before selling his stake in the Lakers toTodd Boehly andMark Walter in 2021. Through ASM Global (formerly AEG), he owns stakes in venues includingCrypto.com Arena andO2 Arena.
Anschutz has had several other business ventures, including Forest Oil, Pacific Energy Group,Union Pacific (he is the company's largest shareholder, with a 6% stake), and theRegal Entertainment Group, the second largest movie theater chain in the world, with approximately 7,000 screens. Anschutz owns more than half of the company, and multiple newspapers and media groups.
Anschutz has invested in, for example, theClarity Media Group, a Denver-based publishing group that includes[32] newspapers such asThe Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma;The San Francisco Examiner (purchased in 2004, sold in November 2011);The Washington Examiner, a conservative weekly tabloid that was consolidated from a group of D.C.-area suburban dailies;The Baltimore Examiner, which launched in April 2006 and was shut down in early 2009; the now-closedExaminer.com, a hyper-local web portal where contributors wrote on local topics from news to blog-like stories; the conservativeWeekly Standard (purchased in 2009);[33] andThe Gazette, Colorado's second-largest newspaper, with a daily circulation of 74,172 (purchased on November 30, 2012).[34] Anschutz has trademarked the name "Examiner" in more than 60 cities.
On December 14, 2018, Anschultz executed the closure ofThe Weekly Standard after Editor in Chief, Stephen Hayes, was unsuccessful in an attempt to find a buyer. Existing subscribers were given an alternative of a refund or a subscription to theWashington Examiner.
Anschutz invested in both the Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse, an auction company designed for the oil & gas business, and NRC Broadcasting, which owns a string of radio stations in Colorado. The Anschutz Investment Company also purchased LightEdge Solutions in February 2008. LightEdge is a business-to-business hosted services provider focused on Wide-Area-Networking, Voice-over-IP, Hosted Microsoft applications (Exchange, OCS, SharePoint), hosted servers/storage collocation cage and rackspace and Business Continuity Services.[35]
It was announced on September 15, 2011, that Anschutz would acquire all assets of theOklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO) from the Gaylord and Dickinson families. Upon closing, Anschutz would operate OPUBCO separately from his other publishing and media assets as an independent company. Closing was expected in October 2011. In March 2012, it was reported that Anschutz was interested in buying theRangers. He also invested in the Power Company of Wyoming LLC,[36] formed in 2007[37] (re-incorporated in 2010)[38] for the purpose of building theChokecherry and Sierra Madre wind power complex in Carbon County, Wyoming, comprising up to 1,000 wind turbines with up to 3,000 megawatts of capacity.[36] It will be sited on 229,077 acres, about half federal, about half privately owned by an affiliate, and a smattering of state lands.[39][40] According to the Bureau of Land Management, which on July 2, 2012, announced the completion of the project's finalEnvironmental Impact Statement, "Chokecherry and Sierra Madre are two distinct sites approximately five miles apart which are both being analyzed together. When combined, they comprise the largest commercial wind generation facility proposed in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world."[41] Construction of the project is currently ongoing, and the cost is an estimated $5 billion.[42]
Anschutz supported theParents Television Council, a group that protests against television content that they consider indecent.[43] He also financed and distributed films with Christian themes for mass audiences (through his two film production companies and ownership of much of the Regal, Edwards and United Artists theater chains) includingAmazing Grace andThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.[44] He financedThe Foundation for a Better Life. In 2009, Anschutz purchased the conservative American opinion magazineThe Weekly Standard fromRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation.[45] In 2010, he financed the pro-charter school filmWaiting for Superman.[46]
Through the Anschutz Foundation, he had made grants to conservative think tanks, including theAmerican Enterprise Institute, theFederalist Society and theHeritage Foundation.[47][48][49] Anschutz contributed $1 million to conservatives during the 2016 U.S. elections, and $200,000 to Republican politicians and political action committees during the 2017 elections.[50]
In 2006, a lawyer for Anschutz wrote a letter to PresidentGeorge W. Bush'sWhite House CounselHarriet Miers recommendingNeil Gorsuch to the newly vacant seat on theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit afterThe Denver Post reported that Gorsuch was not actively being considered for the vacancy.[51][52]
In the wake of theDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, the Anschutz Corporation issued the statement that “[a]s a personal matter, Philip F. Anschutz believes in a woman's right to choose and did not support the reversal of Roe."[53]
Anschutz is an active philanthropist.[54] He heads the Anschutz Foundation, and was listed 41st on theForbes 400 list in October 2019, with a net worth of $11.5 billion.[55]
Anschutz and his wife have contributed over $100 million to the new medical, dental, physical therapy, physician assistant, nursing, and pharmacy campus of theUniversity of Colorado School of Medicine inAurora, Colorado, now named theAnschutz Medical Campus in their honor. The land came from the recently closed Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, but millions were needed for the construction of new medical laboratory buildings and a new University Hospital on the land. They have also donated to the University of Kansas, their alma mater. There is an Anschutz Library and an Anschutz Sports Pavilion.[56] In recognition of their philanthropic efforts, the Anschutzes received the 2009William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership.[57]
In 2018, Anschutz donated $1 million toElton John AIDS Foundation.[58]
Anschutz is a conservative Christian and a member of theEvangelical Presbyterian Church.[59][8][60] He and his wife Nancy, whom he met when he was 16, have three children. Anschutz was inducted into theKansas Business Hall of Fame in 2000[61] and the U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2002.[62]
Anschutz prefers to stay out of the limelight.[63] He has granted only three formal interviews since 1979, and none from the 1980s until 2015.[64][24] On December 6, 2015, he broke his media silence when he appeared with several of the founders of Major League Soccer to reflect on the league's 20th anniversary.[65]
Anschutz has run 15 marathons.[66] His first cousin was fellow Russell native and longtime news anchorWendall Anschutz.[63]
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